As COVID-19 infections continue to rise nationwide, health experts and local leaders are encouraging Black communities to get vaccinated.
Black Americans account for 51% of all new COVID-19 cases and the delta variant has made up 51% of new cases in LA County in the past eight weeks. 42% of all new cases have been from members of Latinx/Hispanic communities.
Data from the Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Healthcare (MLKCH), one of Los Angeles’ leading medical institutions, released data on July 19 via Facebook showing that Black Americans are being hit harder by the virus than other communities. Dr. Elaine Batchlor of the MLKCH says “The delta variant is spreading quickly and can cause more severe illness. Unfortunately, the Black community is lagging behind in COVID vaccination and as a result, is experiencing higher rates of infection and hospitalization. Let’s not allow this terrible disease to decimate our community again.”
Data from Los Angeles is just a snapshot view into how COVID-19 is spreading in our communities. Misinformation and poor availability were limiters earlier in the year. Now with rampant availability, members of Black and brown communities are still opting-out of getting the vaccine. It’s not an option once it’s too late.
An unfortunate, but certain frustration has been rooted in confusion between the mere definition of a vaccine versus the definition of a cure. A vaccine is defined as a substance used to stimulate the production of antibodies and provide immunity against one or several diseases, prepared from the causative agent of a disease, its products, or a synthetic substitute, treated to act as an antigen without inducing the disease. A cure relieves (a person or animal) of the symptoms of a disease or condition. There is no cure to COVID-19 and a vaccine will not cure you of an illness.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading scientific voice in the US, said Sunday that the US is “going in the wrong direction” as the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise, particularly among unvaccinated Americans.
“If you look at the inflection of the curve of new cases and, as you said in the run-in to this interview, that it is among the unvaccinated. And since we have 50% of the country is not fully vaccinated, that’s a problem,” Fauci told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” when asked about a model projecting a worst case scenario of 4,000 deaths a day in the US from Covid-19, if vaccination rates do not improve.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updates COVID-19 guidance regularly. Black News Alerts will continue to publish pertinent information for our community and updates regarding outbreaks and support systems available in each community.
Community Alerts are issued by the Black News Alerts editorial and management team after any public, social or health issue is deemed critical information for our community. A full list of community alerts is available at blackness alerts.com. Geographical alerts may be issued for subscribers of the Black News Alerts mobile app.
